MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said Congress found its elusive unity again Thursday when they thanked Capitol police for responding to a fatal car chase.

She called it a “unanimous, bipartisan, standing ovation, a big round of applause.” But she warned that things won’t go this smoothly again if members of Congress don’t find a way to end the government shutdown.

“The uniformed Secret Service personnel and Capitol police officers who were involved in this scary but short incident this afternoon,” Maddow said, “they have been declared essential enough as federal employees that they were still on the job today and able to respond to this very scary incident.”

“But if the shutdown goes on much longer, these guys are going to start skipping paychecks,” she continued. “The Capitol police and uniformed Secret Service officers who protect the Capitol, including in incidents like today, they have been told by their supervisors to start making alternate plans for paying their bills. Because they don’t know and nobody can tell them if they’re going to get their next paycheck. It all depends on whether or not this shutdown continues to drag on.”

The Gulf Coast is bracing itself for Tropical Storm Karen, which should make landfall this weekend. The Federal Emergency Management Agency called in furloughed employees to respond to the storm.

The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration is partially shutdown. Thankfully, their National Hurricane Center (NHC) is considered essential. The NHC website says “because the information this site provides is necessary to protect life and property, it will be updated and maintained during the Federal Government shutdown.”